Instructions

ZOOM IN by clicking on the page. A slider will appear, allowing you to adjust your zoom level. Return to the original size by clicking on the page again.

MOVE the page around when zoomed in by dragging it.

ADJUST the zoom using the slider on the top right.

ZOOM OUT by clicking on the zoomed-in page.

SEARCH by entering text in the search field and click on "In This Issue" or "All Issues" to search the current issue or the archive of back issues
respectively.
.

PRINT by clicking on thumbnails to select pages, and then press the
print button.

SHARE this publication and page.

ROTATE PAGE allows you to turn pages 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.Click on the page to return to the original orientation. To zoom in on a rotated page, return the page to its original orientation, zoom in, and
then rotate it again.

CONTENTS displays a table of sections with thumbnails and descriptions.

ALL PAGES displays thumbnails of every page in the issue. Click on
a page to jump.

A32
business
Sunday Guardian www.guardian.co.tt December 1, 2013
LOCAL MARKET SUMMARY
Trading activity fell this week with
1,568,871 shares trading on the First Tier
Market which represented a decline of
16.39 per cent on last week s volume of
1,876,338 shares.
The value of shares traded, however,
more than doubled, up 131.31 per cent
from $10,511,686.51 last week to
$24,314,155.84 this week.All three Indices
closed in negative territory. The Composite
Index declined 0.66 per cent or 7.84 points
to 1,176.50, the All Trinidad and Tobago
Index slipped 0.37 per cent or 7.37 points
to 1,968.98 and the Cross Listed Index
fell 2.06 per cent or 1.06 points to 50.37.
The top performer this week was
National Flour Mills Ltd (NFM), up 4.30
per cent or $0.04 to close the week at
$0.97 and the major decline was
GraceKennedy Ltd (GKC), down 9.77 per
cent or $0.39 to $3.60.
The advance to decline ratio ended the
week8to7.
There was no activity on the Second
Tier Market this week.
On the TTD Mutual Fund Market,
818,590 CLICO Investment Fund (CIF)
shares traded valued at $17,596,459.00.
CIF s share price rose 0.23 per cent or
$0.05 to $21.55.
Jamaica
In Jamaica, the JSE Market Index
advanced 97.75 points or 0.13 per cent
this week to close at 77,481.83.
Trading activity resulted in 16,808,358
shares traded valued at J$179,927,151.40.
The volume leader this week was Scotia
Group Jamaica (SGJ) with 38.39 per cent
of the market or 6,452,086 shares.
The major advance was LIME, up 6.67
per cent or J$0.01 to J$0.16 and the major
decline was Ciboney Group Ltd (CBNY),
down 50.00 per cent or J$0.04 to
J$0.04.
Planned large scale maintenance
activity by the two major natural
gas producers and co-ordinated
maintenance shutdowns in the
downstream industry in September
severely contracted production
throughout the energy sector in the
third quarter of 2013.
Partial information on non-energy
sector activity, however, indicates a
mixed performance in the third
quarter of 2013, suggesting that the
economy still remains on its path
of slow but steady recovery.
Core inflation has been well con-
tained in the first ten months of 2013
and is expected to remain stable for
the rest of the year. Food price infla-
tion has also decelerated significantly
to within single digit territory.
However, liquidity levels in the
banking system remain high and
business lending contracted for the
tenth consecutive month in Sep-
tember.
Meanwhile, despite a narrowing
of the interest rate differential
between longer term T&T and US
treasury bonds, there has been no
evidence of disruptive portfolio out-
flows. In this context, the Central
Bank views the present accommoda-
tive monetary policy stance as
appropriate and has decided to
maintain the Repo rate at 2.75 per
cent. Large scale maintenance activ-
ity in the natural gas and down-
stream industries in September
resulted in a sharp contraction of
just over 4.0 per cent (year-on-year)
in energy sector activity in the third
quarter of 2013. The fall-off in nat-
ural gas production impacted the
entire energy sector, with the pro-
duction and exploration, and refining
sub-industries contracting by 5.0
per cent and 2.3 per cent, respec-
tively. With several companies align-
ing their plant turnarounds with the
shortfall in natural gas production,
there was also a contraction in petro-
chemical output.
However, with the majority of the
maintenance work completed, pro-
duction in the energy sector is
expected to return to more normal
levels in 2014.
On a year-on-year basis, private
sector credit granted by the consol-
idated financial system grew by 3.2
per cent in September compared
with 2.9 per cent in August.
Consumer lending increased by
almost 6.0 per cent in September,
slightly lower than the 6.3 per cent
growth posted in the previous month
but up from 2.3 per cent at the end
of 2012. Commercial banks con-
sumer loans showed relatively strong
growth for the purchase of motor
vehicles (10.5 per cent), home ren-
ovations (7.1 per cent) and debt con-
solidation (17.3 per cent) in Septem-
ber.
Business lending, on the other
hand, fell by 3.7 per cent in Sep-
tember compared with a decline of
5.8 per cent in August and growth
of 1.0 per cent a year earlier.
A sectoral examination of com-
mercial banks business loans showed
contractions in lending to the
finance, manufacturing and petro-
leum sectors. Meanwhile, real estate
mortgage loans continued to grow
at double digit pace. Though there
was some reduction in commercial
banks excess reserves from the highs
experienced in September, the finan-
cial system remained highly liquid
in October and November.
After reaching a record daily aver-
age of $8.4 billion in September,
commercial banks excess reserves
at the Central Bank fell to $7.3 billion
in October.
However, liquidity levels began to
climb back up during the period
November 1---22, with banks excess
reserves averaging $7.8 billion daily.
Central Bank s open market oper-
ations and sales of foreign exchange
to authorised dealers helped to
absorb some of the excess liquidity.
Energy output slows in third quarter
Business lending, on the other
hand, fell by 3.7 per cent in
September compared with a
decline of 5.8 per cent in August
and growth of 1.0 per cent a year
earlier.